Indiana Phones and the Firmware of Intrigue: A Digium D-Series Phone Update

By Malcolm Davenport

Maybe you fancy yourself a raider. Maybe you like to explore dark temples filled with doom. Maybe you wear a dirty fedora and you named the dog Indiana. You’re in the right place. Let’s talk phones, and let’s get caught up to current.

When last I wrote you on this blog about Digium’s D-Series phones, I was giving you some of the details of Digium’s 1.4.2 firmware for the D80 model telephone. Since then, we’ve made available numerous bug-fix releases, along with a couple of feature releases. What’s happened?

Changes in D80 Firmware 1.7.1

Bugs were fixed: LLDP, user interface, Bluetooth, ringing behavior, and so many others.

Features were added: SSL is now verified by default, the phone now supports Multiline operation, and it allows manual assignment (from the boot menu) of VLAN as well as configuration of static IP addresses.

Improvements were made: Parking notifications auto-dismiss, you’re less likely to hang up a call when toggling between audio paths, and missed call cards are more helpful.

All of this and more is found in firmware 1.7.1.

For non-D80 models, in our last blog together we discussed firmware 2.2.1.4.As with the D80, available firmware for these models includes numerous bug-fix releases and feature releases.What’s better for them?

Changes in D6x Firmware 2.4.2

Features were added: A stand-alone firmware upgrades page, lockout of the ringing volume key, per-account default ringing types, SSL is now verified by default, and all cURL requests support Basic/Digest auth.

Improvements were made: Wallpapers can now be 80K instead of 50K, connections to remote DPMAs over UDP are more reliable, the UI is snappier, anonymous ciphers have been banished, and firmware downloads automatically retry on failure.

All of this and more is found in firmware 2.4.2.

Let the Adventure Begin…

But…that’s not adventurous, now is it?Adventure, generally, involves software that’s so brand new you might be one of the first persons outside of the company to download and try it. Let’s have a chat about that.

D80 1.8.2 Firmware

For the D80, there’s a new 1.8.2 firmware.What does that get you?Something very exciting.Here’s a snapshot:

This is an otherwise idle D80 receiving into its activity stream a call pickup notification. Here, Bobby gets a visual notification that Malcolm’s phone is ringing, and Bobby hears (trust me) a special ringing tone. If Bobby presses the action button on the right side of the notification, Bobby’s connected to the caller.

Skip these next two sentences if you’re not *very* familiar with configuring Digium’s phones because they’re the essence of the magic. To this point, we’ve limited the Smart BLF capability of the D80. With 1.8, we’re opening it up a bit by allowing the use of ringing indications for BLF Items and by allowing the definition of an action that drives the pickup notifications.

Insanely cool?Yes, it is.

D6x 2.6.5 Firmware

For the other models of D-Series phones, we’ve actually gone through a couple of versions of firmware.First was the 2.5 series.It’s got a new quick log out application (off by default, and it depends on the just-released DPMA 3.4.7) so you can mash a button on your phone and go from here (see the Log Out Extension button):

to here:

then here:

…then here:

…and…then…. here:

and finally back to:

Also insanely cool, yes?The best part, of course, is that because we’re using DPMA here, users aren’t entering a real SIP user or SIP password.So, those super secret credentials, that you wouldn’t even tell your best buddy, aren’texposed.

2.5 also introduced Beta (that’s B-E-T-A in all capital letters, and we mean it…we’ve got a long way to go… There are bugs and dragons, and maybe it won’t work at all for you) support for IPv6.It’s off by default, and it can only be turned on, at present, on XML-configured phones.

But, we didn’t stop at 2.5 (because that came and left beta before I could get this blog post written) as we went straight on to 2.6.2.6 is the corollary for what’s happening in 1.8 for the D80, w.r.t. call pickup. The UI on the non-D80 phones doesn’t lend itself to notifications with the same activity stream panache, so we went a different route.That gives you something like this:

Why is Malcolm Davenport’s label background in green?If you saw the phone, you’d see the BLF indicator blinking. But, this extra visual cue lets the phone user know that Malcolm’s phone is eligible for call pickup.

The D6x phones now allow context-specific coloring of the Rapid Dial key labels. We’ve got handles to control (in standard hex numbering, so you can do whatever colors you like) the label background as well as the text coloring. The handles are applied in Smart BLF item indication definitions, so setting them up is a breeze.

There’s also something else buried in the code; but, you’ll have to wait for an insanely cool future blog post on that.

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About the Author

Malcolm Davenport

Digium lifer, celebrator of 17 Digium birthdays, and Digium employee #4."I like telephony and I cannot lie.
You other vendors can't deny;
When a call comes in with MOS so you can't hear
and some echo in your ear
you get angry!" - Sir Mix-a-Malcolm